QUOTE : Oh, Dad,” I said, letting out a breath.<br /><br />“I’m sorry,” said Dad simply.<br /><br />“Hey, you don’t have to apologize,” I told him quickly. “It wasn’t your fault.”<br /><br />“He got a pink slip,” Claire spoke up. She was sitting on the floor, playing with Vanessa’s hair. “He got it at five o’clock.”<br /><br />“Those stinkers!” I exploded. “Why did they wait so long to tell you? Why didn’t they give out all the slips in the morning, instead of driving people crazy making them wait all day?”<br /><br />“I don’t know.” Dad sighed. “Maybe they were still making decisions about who should go and who should stay. Those aren’t easy decisions.”<br /><br />“Well, I still think the people who run your company are really stale.”<br /><br />“Look,” said Dad, sounding cross. “I got fired and that’s that. I don’t want to spend all night discussing it.”<br /><br />“Okay. Sorry,” I replied. <br /><br />I was taken aback. Mom and Dad usually don’t talk that way. My brothers and sisters and I do sometimes, but not our parents and especially not Dad. He’s a sensitive, gentle person.